Reviewed by Carmela Ramos
Set in the Point Puer Boys Prison of Tasmania, Fighting Bones, by Sofie Laguna, gives us a vivid glimpse of what life was like in 1836 for convict boys. Written in the present tense, Fighting Bones, places the reader alongside Declan Sheehan, an irish convict boy sent to Point Puer with his little brother, Danny. The story unfolds through Declan's eyes as he endures harsh conditions of prison life joined by Danny and their two inmate friends, Col and Seamus. Exhausting physical labour and strict discipline are not the main problems the four irish boys face. When young Danny witnesses a murder, they all become targets for the prison bully, Striker, and his gang. Escaping the prison is their only chance to survive.
Set in the Point Puer Boys Prison of Tasmania, Fighting Bones, by Sofie Laguna, gives us a vivid glimpse of what life was like in 1836 for convict boys. Written in the present tense, Fighting Bones, places the reader alongside Declan Sheehan, an irish convict boy sent to Point Puer with his little brother, Danny. The story unfolds through Declan's eyes as he endures harsh conditions of prison life joined by Danny and their two inmate friends, Col and Seamus. Exhausting physical labour and strict discipline are not the main problems the four irish boys face. When young Danny witnesses a murder, they all become targets for the prison bully, Striker, and his gang. Escaping the prison is their only chance to survive.
The reader is compelled to follow Declan as he makes important decisions, and we can also see how Declan deals with the emotions he faces. Pace and emotion work well together here, and Sofie Laguna successfully engages the reader with wholesome themes of bravery, loyalty, loss and hope.
Fighting Bones is part of the Do You Dare? series aimed to engage Australian historical fiction for boy readers aged 8 to 12. Full of tension, action, emotion and adventure, Fighting Bones is perfect for young male readers.
Thank you to www.penguin.com.au for sending us a copy of this great book in exchange for an honest review.
Released in June 2014
For more information go to: Do You Dare? Fighting Bones
Author's Website: http://sofielaguna.com/
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sofie Laguna
Sofie Laguna was born in 1968 in Sydney. She studied to be a lawyer, but after deciding law was not for her, she trained as an actor. Sofie is now an author, actor and playwright.
Her books have been named Honour Books and Notable Books in the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards and have been shortlisted in the Queensland Premier's Awards. She has been published in the US and the UK and in translation in Europe and Asia. Her picture book with Andrew Mclean, On Our Way to the Beach was included in the White Ravens 2005 annual selection of outstanding international children's books by the International Youth Library (Associated Project of UNESCO). Her other books include My Yellow Blanky, Too Loud Lily, Surviving Aunt Marsha, Bad Buster and Big Ned's Bushwalk.
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